Volunteering with the Handling Collection
At the Museum of Croydon we are thrilled with the amazing work of our volunteers, from helping visitors to projects with our collections. Their time, creativity and enthusiasm is what makes the Museum of Croydon what it is! We asked Claudia our new Handling Collection volunteer how she was enjoying the experience and to introduce you to her latest project, a ‘Storytellers’ handling box, now adapted to be online:
Hello, my name is Claudia and I am currently supporting the Museum of Croydon as a Handling Collection Volunteer. I have been working in museums and heritage sites as my background is in Art History, Visual cultures and I am also a qualified City of London Guide. Back in November 2019, I was looking for a volunteering opportunity, possibly in a local museum, to help make collections more accessible and also to further my skills in interpretation of objects. When I saw that the Museum of Croydon was looking for someone to work with their handling collection, I applied straight away!
This volunteer role is important as the Museum possess an interesting collection of around 300 objects (from the Victorian period onwards) that needed to be grouped and organised into themed boxes for handling sessions in galleries or loans to schools. I have only been in this role for a short period of time as I started in January, but so far it has been a fulfilling experience. I received incredible support from the staff and volunteering behind the scenes also helped me better understand how to condition check and to pack objects for storage and transport. My tasks include carrying out research on the handling collection, linking the objects with specific themes whilst developing the collection database. All the themed boxes I create will contain a selection of original objects or replicas and information cards.
The first box I curated is related to the temporary exhibition Storytellers. After I got better acquainted with the collection and had a chat with John and Kelly from Good Wolf, I looked at the exhibition and considered which objects I could potentially use in connection to the authors, books or other objects on display. Once I selected the objects, I created information cards carrying each a picture of the item, the collection number and a short content. I was very excited at the prospect of inaugurating my first themed box at a Museum Late in March, but this event could not take place because of the Covid-19 emergency. Nevertheless, while we wait for the Museum of Croydon to reopen to the public and for the objects to be taken out again, providing visitors with the opportunity to touch them, this collection is now becoming available in digital form. This means that I can continue performing my volunteer role from home and the Storytellers box is now part of an online exhibition ‘Virtual Storytellers’. This virtual experience obviously cannot replace the sensory one, but the public can be still introduced to the collections and explore Croydon’s rich heritage in a new and engaging way!
Claudia Colia
Handling Collection Volunteer
Click HERE to visit our new online exhibition ‘Virtual Storytellers’ which features the Handling collection - see what Claudia was inspired by and create your own stories!
Want to know more about Volunteering with us? Click HERE: